


Another Merlin in Hogwarts story

by paperclip (riddlesprites)



Series: Hoglin [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Merlin (TV)
Genre: An Office Supplies Production, Hufflepuff!Merlin, Muggle!Arthur, Syltherin!Morgana
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-19
Updated: 2020-03-20
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:20:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23221606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/riddlesprites/pseuds/paperclip
Summary: Another crack at Merlin being reincarnated and sorted into Hogwarts.Morgana and Merlin each deal with the memories they carried over from their previous incarnation. AKA they decide to forget what happened in the past and make the present as good as possible.More tags to be added in the future.
Series: Hoglin [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1669639
Comments: 2
Kudos: 31





	Another Merlin in Hogwarts story

The sorting hat had been in the business of sorting children for several centuries. During this time the hat had honed an ability to look at a child and make a strong guess not only for which house they would flourish in but also their overall life. What type of grades, which job, even to what students possibly would end up together, it saw everything. The hat was still shocked by Granger and Weasley becoming an item but not everyone could be perfect, right?

All in all, the hat was looking forward to a long discussion with the Headmaster to swap thoughts on the new students after the first years were sorted. They had several discussions over the school year, the hat was sometimes notified early of certain persons specific situations, but the talk directly after sorting was the most fun. Especially if McGonagall was still willing to bet against his premonitions after last year.

“Morgana Pendragon”

The hat watched the black-haired girl walk towards him, children snickering audible from his seat. The headmaster had made him aware of this girl, father a politician in England, strong magic, and above all the fact that she was wandering into Hogwarts with that particular name. Of course, Hogwarts got their share of Arthurs and Merlins but most magical parents avoided naming their children after the darker mages, especially ones with such depressing stories. Even more so when the whole family was named after Arthurian legend, the girl’s father was named Uther for god’s sake. It was asking for trouble.

The hat mused as the girl pulled him on, maybe in the muggle world it was an elaborate joke?

\------

The Headmaster of Hogwarts sighed as she checked in once again with the prefects out searching for the missing first year. They already had to skip his name in the sorting and now were possibly dealing with a completely lost child. How did someone get lost between the train and the castle? Had he somehow avoided the boats?

She turned her attention to the sorting ceremony taking place and thought on the girl walking up to the stage. McGonagall had specifically talked to the hat before sorting for many reasons this year, one of which was this girl. Due to her father’s position, a member of the House of Lords, a ministry worker was sent to help Morgana pick out a wand and get a bit accustomed to the magical community instead of McGonagall’s preferred method of sending in vetted professors who actually dealt with children on a regular basis. It was the first Lord’s child to attend Hogwarts in a century and the ministry wanted their hands all over it. From what McGonagall had weaseled out of the ministry employee sent the girl was quick on her feet and relatively kind, she picked out expensive items which was to be expected and had a preference for books.

The girl finally made it to the seat and pulled the hat on. McGonagall did not like the way the hat immediately froze. Or the face it made as it slowly came out of its coma. ‘What happened?’ The talk with the hat regarding Morgana had been relatively simple. McGonagall had enough experience to know any girl walking in with that name was going to be an object of some poking. And as much as she had been trying to change the houses to be more open to everyone there was a specific house that the girl would be better off avoiding. They didn’t need a Lord’s daughter getting bullied and coloring her parents view of the magical community. McGonagall also worried putting a Morgana Pendragon into Slytherin might be too on the nose for fate to ignore. Was the girl set on being in Slytherin? Was that the concern? Somehow McGonagall didn’t think it was that simple.

The hat looked far too nervous. And was taking a much longer time than she had anticipated.

Suddenly the hat shot McGonagall an apologetic look before belting out

“Slytherin!”

And Morgana Pendragon politely walked off towards her new house.

McGonagall sighed. First a missing student and now she had to make sure the Pendragon wasn’t bullied out of the school. Hopefully there wouldn’t be more surprises.

\-----

The sorting hat did not know what to make of this… 11 year old with memories thousands of years old? An actual reincarnation? The question wasn’t which house to put her in but which year, did she even need to go to school? Would a private tutor be better suited for her?

What scope was the hat supposed to see this under?

‘So you can see… Practically everything? It’s a bit of an invasion of privacy wouldn’t you say?’

The hat sighed and settled on the girls’ head. There were too many memories for someone so young, even if they were fuzzy. It seemed like the only people she fully remembered were from her immediate family, who had also somehow reincarnated with her. The remaining humans in her memories were hazed over, unrecognizable. The memories in general had an airy quality to them similar to a dream. The hat was getting woozy from looking through them.

‘My job is to put you in the house where you will flourish. To do so I need to understand who you are as a person.’

The dazed response was automatic as the hat continued to puzzle through what exactly to do in this situation. Was Morgana technically a criminal? Well, the hat surmised, not in this lifetime. Surely her getting to try to live a good life wasn’t the worst thing to occur. Besides, this wouldn’t end up like the last few darker wizards he had sorted. Right?

‘Well,’ the girl laughed in her head, worrying the hat even more ‘It’s a bit obvious which house to put me in isn’t it?’

The hat really, really did not like this. He had already discussed decisively not putting the girl in Slytherin with the Headmaster.

‘Perhaps you would be better off in Gryffindor?’ The hat sensed the revulsion immediately but pressed onwards ‘You could learn how to get along with the hero types? Gain some perspective?’

‘Mmm no I think I’ll pass. Red and gold don’t particularly suit my complexion.’ The girl replied, grinning.

She was enjoying this. The hat didn’t know if he should be impressed or annoyed.

‘Come on,’ she continued, ‘Just put me in Slytherin and get this over with.’

‘I can’t sell you on Ravenclaw?’ There was an edge of desperation on the hat’s thoughts.

Morgana smiled and proceeded to ignore him.

Groaning, the hat agreed. The longer he searched through the girl’s memories the less impact the initial surprise had. Yes, she was the reincarnation of Morgana, but she was also 11 years old. She was still a child that needed training just with a bunch of vague adult memories. Some of which weren’t pretty at all despite their hazy quality. Honestly, if there was a way to punch fate in the face, this would be a good time for it. No one deserved to grow up with so many bad memories.

‘I will sort you, but you have to agree to talk to your head of house about these memories.’ Morgana made a face ‘Or any adult at this school. Pick a professor. Or the Headmaster. Just someone to help you deal with this.’

Morgana shifted, annoyed and uncomfortable ‘They’ll throw me into the loony bin or lock me up.’

The hat sighed.

‘While I can understand your fear I can assure you no harm will come to you here.’

The girl thought for a second, realizing there was very little she could do to pressure a magical hat into agreeing with her, before reluctantly responding ‘I’ll find someone to... talk to.’

‘Excellent.’

And with the conversation finished all the hat had left to do was yell out

“Slytherin!”

And Morgana stepped down to meet her classmates.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The sorting ceremony was close to wrapping up and McGonagall had nearly planned out how to handle the Pendragon in Slytherin debacle when the prefect from Ravenclaw came running up to the teacher’s tables.

“Ma’am, we finally found the missing student. He had come into the school along with the older kids and got lost in the confusion.”

Finally. She would have to ask more questions later. The good news is that the boy had been found, he was safe, and they could finish the sorting ceremony. Even if it was out of order.

The prefect quickly added “He erm. Also got lost in the forbidden forest before he came into the dining hall...”

McGonagall choked on her drink, arousing glances from the entire hall. She lowered her voice in response.

“How exactly did a first year end up in the forbidden forest?”

The prefect shrugged in defeat “We aren’t sure either. He just… Walked out and found someone

searching in the yard.”

McGonagall rubbed her temples. And here she thought Morgana Pendragon would be the most of her issues. The boy’s father did know Hagrid, so maybe this was a terribly misinformed attempt at talking to the older man before his sorting. She could only hope. Only two other students had bumbled through the forest through the sorting ceremony during her tenure and she preferred to not have another rendition of those children this year. And at least they had the decency to do that their second year. This was looking worse by the minute.

She took a deep breath and waved the prefect back to their duties.

Hopefully this was just a blip on the radar on this students’ record. Besides, with a father in the

Wizengamot, how much trouble could he be? She would have to go talk with the student afterwards to make sure he knew how dangerous this stunt was.

\------------------------------------------------

The sorting hat was rather relieved when the final name was called, even if it was completely out of order.

“Emrys, Merlin!”

The hat watched the boy approach. Ears a bit big for his head and a loud red scarf tied around his neck. A bit of foliage clung to the boys clothing which the hat found a bit odd, surely the boy hadn’t taken a tumble in the grass on the way into the hall? It hoped the boy had the brains to at least keep his hair clean.

The name itself, unlike Morgana, was rather popular in the magical community since... Well since the founding of magic in England. This was the second “Merlin” being sorted today, the other being a girl Merlyn that was sorted into Ravenclaw. The hat vaguely remembered the last Emrys family member being sorted many years ago, a pureblood line that specialized in magical creatures, but he couldn’t remember which house he put him into. He somewhat thought it was Gryffindor.

The hat shot a look over to Morgana, the actual real Morgana in the flesh vs a child simply named after Arthurian lore, hoping to share an inside joke about the multiple other students named of Arthurian lore milling about. The hat was not prepared for the gaze of recognition and absolute shock on the girl’s face as the boy made his way down the hall.

Surely... The girl knew this wasn’t the actual Merlin? It was just a name- Actually, the hat considered quickly, wasn’t she the one who would know if it was or not? Did reincarnations automatically look like their previous selves? It wasn’t as if there were books on the subject. The hat’s thoughts trailed off as the boy tugged him on and plopped onto the stool in the front of the dining hall.

‘So, just so we’re clear, if you start to make me out to be some ‘magic Jesus’ I am going to disappoint you. And also be annoyed.’

The hat stilled itself, noting that indeed there were some flowers remaining in the boy’s hair for

goodness sake, before beginning to read the boys mind and understand the situation. He wasn’t able to access much.

‘I won’t be saying much of anything to you if you keep your barriers up this high. How do you expect me to sort you if I can’t see anything?’

The boy blinked then broke down some of the impressive mental walls so the hat could do its job. It was rather impressive for a child his age to have such mental capabilities, but after seeing enough of his mind the hat reasoned out why quickly enough.

‘Well you won’t be the first reincarnation I’ve dealt with today,’ was all the hat could muster as it considered the gravity of the situation. Was it really supposed to sort Merlin himself, reincarnated or not? The boy made some questioning remark to the hat but it was focused on realigning itself with this new information.

Yes, the hat decided with a sigh, it would have to sort him. It did not envy the Headmasters year of dealing with these two previously sworn enemies. If he told Merlin about Morgana also being at the school would it end in a firefight? The hat decided to go along another line of questioning before broaching that subject.

‘Just to be clear, you do actually want to attend Hogwarts? There isn’t much to learn here that you won’t come to know on your own.’ The boy already had a fantastic grasp of magic, to be expected, and more memories than Morgana. Perhaps his magical abilities allowed him to access more of his memories? The hat knew so little about the arrangement it was starting to grasp at straws.

‘Yes. I would like to get a basic education thank you very much. Now what did you mean about another reincarnation?’ the boy asked, impatient, as he began to try to mentally work through the hats wards to take the answer himself.

‘You’ll have to grow a bit to achieve that feat’ the hat said as the boy slumped a bit ‘But let’s just be clear, this person is in the same position as you are. Consider they are just as lost as you are.’

Merlin made a face ‘You don’t say.’

The hat groaned internally. He supposed the boy would come to the conclusion the girl had come to eventually anyway, so what was the harm in telling him? He motioned to where Morgana was sitting and prepared himself for fireworks. If the multiple legends were correct this was the meeting of two great enemies and the hat was very unsure how this would play out.

Despite expectations the boy’s face broke into a grin and his hand shot up in a wave. Morgana, looking confused, slunk deeper into her seat as the boy continued to wave.

‘Oh god am I happy to see someone else.’ Merlin thought to the hat, relief apparent. The hat, at a loss for words, began scanning in an attempt to sort the boy.

‘You were in supposedly in Slytherin before, would you like to rejoin that house?’ Merlin stiffened mid wave and tore his hand down.

‘I’m not a Slytherin. I don’t know why everyone thinks I would be in that house but it definitely does not fit me.’ The hat had to agree, the boy had startlingly high potential but the drive that was the hallmark of the house was not apparent. ‘I think I know where I should be, but go ahead and sort me based on how you normally would.’

Historically people had placed Merlin into several houses considering his abilities but the house that was becoming most apparent was not one of those. It was actually the only one history had thrown out.

‘Are you sure?’ it mused.

‘Yes. Very sure.’

The boy grinned again as the hat belted out

“HUFFLEPUFF”

‘I thought so.’ the boy grinned and he removed the hat to go meet his other house mates.

\--------------

Morgana tensed once she recognized the boy walking up to be sorted. She wouldn’t have been able to draw a picture of him or anything before the instant she saw him, but now tons of memories were flooding back. God his ears were so big as a kid…

‘Focus. Morgana.’ She told herself, stopping herself from diving deeper into the newfound memories that had been unlocked.

She had always had her stupid brother who barely remembered anything from the past and her parents who remembered nothing, but this was the first reincarnation outside her family she had met. And Merlin had a lot of magic. He probably knew more than she did about the past and judging by the legends there were probably things he had reason to be angry at her about.

Possibly really angry.

He wouldn’t… Hex her, right? Not in the middle of Hogwarts? She situated herself to be ready to run if she needed.

Every instinct in Morgana nullified the idea that he would harm her. The person she remembered wouldn’t have attacked anyone she realized, going back over a few of her new memories. But things had changed since those long ago years, and she didn’t know enough to clearly picture his reaction.

She was at a complete disadvantage. Morgana lowered herself to try to avoid his gaze. Perhaps if she could find a real history book here at Hogwarts she could make sense of what had transpired between them before they interacted.

Surely he wouldn’t notice her-

He was looking right at her. And waving with a stupid grin on his face.

She slumped further into the seat, embarrassed but also a bit happy. That was the Merlin she remembered, good natured and ridiculous. She was slightly surprised when the hat sorted him into Hufflepuff, not exactly the hero’s house of choice, but it also felt right, in a way.

Weirdly. Her head was beginning to ache with all the memories about Merlin flooding in so quickly. She hoped food would be served soon.

The Headmaster made a quick speech then dinner began to appear on the tables out of thin air. Morgana, growing accustomed to the notion of food being transported in record time, began slowly placing food onto her plate as she contemplated the situation. How she would approach Merlin? Did she try to make friends with him or did they just avoid one another for the next seven years? Her housemates watched her quietly, unsure what to say to their new muggleborn housemate. Especially one without a reaction to magical food.

“Maybe she’s half muggle? Or had a magical teacher?” She heard one of the kids whisper.

Morgana, laden with much larger problems than fitting into a house at school, elected to ignore them for the time being.


End file.
